Josh Thorson

Josh Thorson
From Seaford, 2024
Paper Size: 16x20 inches
Edition of 1
Chromogenic print produced and signed by the artist.

Negative capability, in literary discourse, is the ability to accept uncertainty, mystery, and doubt, and to resist filling them in with facts, logic, or reason. In holding space for the unknown and uncertain, things begin to happen. Light brings darkness, and lightness hides under shade. There are hundreds of kinds of tape, and magenta will become green in the darkroom, but what kind? Layers of gels transfigure light within layers of emulsion as I stumble around in the dark. Entirely new intensities and details emerge in the chemical transformation of the chromogenic print process that do not approximate any original intensity, like those felt while running on mountains, through forests, or along the sea, but they are tangible and just as surprising.

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I am a New York-based artist and writer. My video work has screened at MoMA NYC, Rotterdam International Film Festival, Rencontres Internationale (Paris/Berlin), MIX NYC, and Anthology Film Archives. Since 2008, I have created video projections for theater at Signature, American Repertory, Bard SummerScape, Crossing the Line/New Settings, St. Ann’s Warehouse, and most recently for Daniel Fish's Tony Award Winning Broadway production of Oklahoma!, for which I received a Drama Desk Award nomination, an Obie Award Special Citation, and a What’s On Stage Award for Best Video Design for the West End production in London. I am continuing my work in the color darkroom and working on a long-form photo project about queer theater. I have a BA in Film and Cultural Studies from the University of Minnesota, an MFA in Film/Video from Bard College, a Ph.D. in Electronic Art from Rensselaer Polytechnic, and am an Associate Professor in the School of Photographic Arts and Sciences at RIT.

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